A tough marketing tool

2009-01-05 08:40

Chris Moerdyk

It has taken a while, but SA cricket captain Graeme Smith, has finally discovered one of the world's most powerful communications tools that leaves the competition dumbstruck.

It's called humility.

And hopefully, our politicians and business leaders will, like Smith, also come to the conclusion that in these radically changed times, humility has replaced grandstanding, aggression, confrontation and even slick salesmanship as the best way of staying ahead of the competition.

The past year has seen an acceleration in the way consumers all over the world have changed in terms of their attitude toward politics and businesses.

Most importantly in the way they respond to communication. Not too long ago consumers used to react positively when a politician said, "trust me" and when business said, "we care".

Effective communication

But, nowadays voters feel more let down by politicians than ever before and thanks to the current dramatic economic downturn globally and corporate greed being exposed right, left and centre, consumers are now in no doubt whatsoever that the only thing business is interested in is profit and does not give a toss about Mr and Mrs Joe Public except to try and empty their wallets as quickly as possible.

So, these days when politics and business want to persuade voters and consumers to but their ideology, products and services, they'd better look closely at the way Graeme Smith is talking to his team, the competition, the media and the cricketing public.

What Smith seems to have realised is that effective communications is not just about getting those who are listening to him to understand what he is saying but to be inspired and motivated by what he is saying.

His change of communications strategy from aggressive, tub-thumping confrontation to humility has been praised by the media, particularly in Australia, and has clearly caused a lot of discomfort in the Australian cricket team who were expecting Smith to try and out-sledge them.

Humility is nothing new. Some very successful politicians and businessmen and women have used it to great effect. Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi are great examples, as are Archbishop Tutu, Raymond Ackerman, Harry Oppenheimer and a host of others. US President elect Obama has also made effective use of it from time to time.

A sweet alternative

But, in the past, humility was an optional extra - something that could be used if you were big enough.

These days, however, with business and politicians experiencing the highest degree of lack of trust that ever before in history, humility is no longer an option but rather an essential if you are in the business of persuading people to do what you want them to do.

And, in sporting terms, we've just been witness to the fact that humility is indeed an extremely sweet alternative to revenge.

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